Blush
by purpleushi
Summary: Rusty Ryan didn't have relationships, he had lovers. At least, that's what he told himself. But there was someone who intrigued him so much that he might have to break that philosophy. RustyLinus, DannyRusty, DannyTess. Not graphic, sorry?.


Summary: Rusty Ryan didn't have relationships, he had lovers. At least, that's what he told himself. But there was someone who intrigued him so much that he might have to break that philosophy. RustyLinus, DannyRusty, DannyTess. Not graphic (sorry?).

Warnings: Slash (but again, not graphic).

Disclaimer: No kidding, I don't own the Ocean's franchise. If I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction, I'd be writing the next movie. (By the way, are they making 14? I think I heard that they were…) Anyway, until I become a millionaire, the contents of this story are not factual, and do not in any way portray the intentions of the author (oh how I wish).

A/N: Yes, this story did distract me from "baby don't hurt me". I'm sorry to anyone who was waiting for updates (not that anyone was, there were only 3 reviews. Guess people aren't too in to YuGiOh anymore. How sad, you're missing a wonderful fandom.).

So, I hope you enjoy this. Sadly, it is only a one-shot, but it's pretty long.

* * *

Rusty Ryan didn't have relationships, he had lovers. And quite a few of them, sometimes more than one at the same time. Only once in his life had he strayed from this philosophy, and the results had been disastrous. A heart had been broken, along with a thousand dollar Chinese vase. Rusty knew he'd never try that again. 

And yet there was that little nagging voice always telling him he needed to find someone and settle down. No, not his conscience. The little nagging voice belonged to a lovely lady named Tess Ocean. Oh sure, Rusty liked Tess, but she was a master at beating a dead horse. She should have figured it out by then that Rusty Ryan didn't have relationships, he had lovers.

Rusty set down his glass of whiskey just as his cell phone buzzed in his pants pocket. He checked the caller identification and confirmed what he already knew.

"Yeah Danny," he answered.

"How soon can you be in Chicago?" the other man asked.

"Two hours, give or take," Rusty said. "What do I do after I pick up the kid?"

"Catch the 7:30 to Phoenix. I'll meet you at the hotel."

"Got it, see you Danny,"

He hung up the phone. Danny was a man of few words. Rusty, though, always knew exactly what he meant. He had a thing for reading people.

There was only one person whose thoughts weren't displayed to him like the pages of a book. No matter how hard he tried, he never could figure out what the kid was thinking. Sure he could anticipate what Linus was going to say before he actually said it, but what was going on in his head was a complete mystery.

He grabbed his keys off the counter and walked out to his car. He debated whether or not to call the kid first and decided against it. Keep the kid on his toes. Thieves had to learn to expect the unexpected.

It took him less time than he though it would to get into the city. He pulled up to the Caldwell kid's apartment. Parking the car, he got out and leisurely loped up the narrow stairs of the fire escape. Through the sliding glass doors he could see that no one was at home. He fumbled in his pocket for a lock pick, and within minutes he was sitting on Linus's black leather couch helping himself to some Chinese food from the fridge.

Halfway through Oprah, Rusty heard footsteps outside the door. The lock clicked and the door swung inward. Linus barely displayed surprise when he noticed Rusty sitting in his living room. It wasn't the first time he'd come home to find the blond con-man making himself at home in his apartment.

"Rusty."

"Linus."

"How long am I packing for this time?" the younger man asked.

"Three weeks? Canny was more coded than usual."

Linus turned and headed for the bedroom. Rusty, although not invited, followed. Linus threw clothes haphazardly into his dark blue duffel-backpack, as Rusty glanced around the room. His gaze rested on a picture frame seated on the dresser.

"Cute," he said.

Linus reddened, embarrassed, as Rusty picked up the picture. It was one taken of everybody after the egg heist. Rusty was in the middle, his arms drunkenly thrown over Danny and Linus's shoulders. Danny was looking at him skeptically, while Linus was grinning like a five year old in a candy store. Virgil and Turk, the Malloy brothers, were standing in front of them in an argument as usual. The rest of the gang was more or less looking in the direction of the camera. It was a pretty good representation.

"I'm ready," Linus said. Rusty replaced the photo.

An hour of silence later and they were on a plane to Arizona. Rusty sat with his seat all the way back, headphones on, eyes closed. Linus attempted to so the sudoku in the airplane magazine, but kept stealing involuntary glances at the man next to him.

Linus admired Rusty. He wanted so much to be like him. Smooth, clever, handsome. Linus hated how everyone always called him "kid". How they compared him to his father, pointing out all the dissimilarities. He hated how they were all telling the truth. So yeah, he was a great pick-pocket, but in a gang of professional con-men, how good was that? They didn't really need him. Danny probably just felt obligated to help out the Caldwell kid. And Rusty… Rusty laughed at him just like everyone else.

So why did he get that tingling feeling every time the older man was around? His heart leapt and goose bumps ran down his spine. And of course, he became as tongue-tied as a fourteen year old girl on a date. Thank god Rusty didn't talk much.

The pilot turned off the "fasten seatbelt" sign and Linus stood up to use the bathroom. Rusty sensed him leave and woke up, rubbing his eyes. He reached over onto Linus's vacant seat and picked up the magazine. He filled in a few squares on the sudoku, and then returned to sleep.

Linus came back to his seat, and picked up his puzzle.

"Wha--" someone had filled in eight of his sudoku squares with letters. He read the letters to himself and with wide eyes glanced over at Rusty. The blonde's lips twitched into a smirk. Linus turned to face forward, sitting straight in his seat. His emotions vacillated rapidly between nervous, shocked and excited, and settled somewhere around confused.

He decided to pretend he hadn't read it. If Rusty really meant it, he would say it again. Linus didn't want to say anything and find out that is had just been a joke.

Could Rusty really love him? And, if he did, what exactly did that mean? Rusty himself had said that he didn't have relationships, only lovers. Linus blushed. Maybe Rusty just wanted sex?

And then Linus felt Rusty's arm snake gently around his neck. And suddenly the blonde's mouth was at his ear.

"I meant it," he whispered.

Linus stiffened.

And then Rusty's mouth moved to Linus's neck, softly caressing the tender skin below his ear. Slowly Linus began to relax.

All too soon, Rusty pulled away. Linus chanced a glance at him and saw that signature smirk on his face again. Linus raised his eyebrows slightly. Rusty nodded.

Linus knew that Rusty wouldn't talk for the remainder of the flight, so he didn't bother to say anything.

In the rental car on the way to the hotel, Linus was absent-mindedly drumming his fingers nervously on the armrest. Rusty shot him an amused glare and he stopped abruptly, blushing again.

"Not a word of this to Danny," Rusty said, breaking through the silence.

Linus nodded. So Rusty was acknowledging that something had happened. That was good; he wasn't regretting it.

A few minutes later, rusty felt he had to clarify that statement.

"And no mention to anyone who might tell Danny."

"So basically, you're just hiding it from Danny." Linus said.

"Basically we're just hiding it from Danny." Rusty agreed.

"Are you going to tell me why?"

"No."

"Didn't think so."

The rest of the ride passed in silence, which seemed to be a common occurrence with Rusty. He didn't seem to take any notice. Linus on the other hand went back to tapping his fingers.

Rusty rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Tess noticed that something was different about Rusty the minute he walked through the revolving glass doors into the hotel lobby. She intercepted him before he reached Danny and pulled him aside to question him.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"Nice to see you too, Tess,"

"Whatever. Who is she?"

"He," Rusty corrected.

Tess's eyes strayed over the Linus, questioningly. She took Rusty's silence to be a 'yes'.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Rusty."

"So do I." Rusty said quietly.

Tess let him go to rejoin the others. She could tell that Rusty really cared about Linus. Anything that could cause Rusty to admit weakness was pretty damn important.

Tess watched Danny greet Rusty, pulling him into a brotherly embrace. _Or not so brotherly, _Tess thought. She knew how Danny felt about Rusty. His admiration was based on more than Rusty's conning skills.

But Danny had never acted on this, knowing it would be pointless. Not only could he get hurt if Rusty rejected him, but there was Tess to think about too. Tess, who'd stuck with him every time he'd been in jail, been married to him three times (they were about to celebrate their third second anniversary), and even endangered herself more than once to help him pull off his jobs. No, he couldn't do that to Tess. And Rusty was straight, anyways.

Danny sat down again as Rusty went to reserve a room. Linus followed almost nervously. Thankfully, Danny wasn't as good as picking up silent clues as Rusty or Tess. And he was blissfully unaware of the fact that anyone knew his secret.

Rusty and Linus gave their luggage to the porter and followed him to their adjoining rooms. Danny bought another macchiato and waited for them to return.

"Did you tell Tess?" Linus asked.

"She figured it out." Rusty answered.

A blush crept onto Linus's cheeks.

"Is it that obvious?" he asked.

"No, Tess just knows everything."

Linus nodded.

"So… are you ever going to tell me— "

"No," Rusty cut him off. Linus looked a bit disappointed, so Rusty amended.

"Eventually." He said, leaning down to kiss Linus on the forehead.

Linus blushed again and Rust smirked to himself. The kid's adorable naivety was one of Rusty's favorite things about him.

Rusty went into his room, thinking about what Tess had said. Did he know what he was doing? No, not at all. This was completely new territory for him. It wasn't the fact that Linus was a guy, Rusty had been with guys before (three to be exact, and they were all too flamboyant for him), never, ever, had he felt like this about anyone. The more time he spent around Linus, the more he never wanted to leave him. But it also made him feel like he was betraying Danny. He didn't remember when he'd first realized that Danny Ocean was in love with him. He guessed that it was a gradual thing; the lingering embraces, the embarrassed glances, the joking innuendo. But Danny never said it outright so Rusty didn't press the issue. And this, he thought, was why he hated relationships.

He changed into a pair of black pants and a silvery silk shirt and knocked on the door between his and Linus's rooms.

"You decent?" he asked.

"In a second," came the reply.

Rusty entered anyway to find Linus pulling a shirt over his pale chest, his pants unbuckled revealing dark blue boxers underneath. He looked up at Rusty and blushed again. Rusty walked quickly over to him and finished pulling down his shirt, then wrapped his arms around the younger man's waist and kissed him on the lips. Linus's arms slid around the younger man's waist and kissed him on the lips. Linus's arms slid around Rusty's neck as he kissed back.

Then something vibrated in Rusty's pocket. _Damn phone_, he thought as he pulled away from Linus to answer it.

"Yeah."

"What's taking so long?" Danny asked "Your eyeshadow doesn't match you lipstick?"

"We'll be there in a second, Danny," Rusty said, grinning.

Linus hastily tucked in his shirt and belted his pants.

When they got downstairs, Frank, Saul, and Yen were sitting there.

"How big is this job?" he asked Danny in a whisper.

Danny didn't answer, merely grinned and greeted Livingston as he came through the revolving doors. For one, Rusty had no idea what Danny was planning.

By noon the next day, everyone was there. Danny called a meeting in his room. Rusty gently shook Linus awake; he had fallen asleep on Rusty's bed , his head slipping onto the older man's shoulder. They exited the room together, not expecting to see Danny leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. Danny raised an eyebrow skeptically.

Rusty just nodded a greeting and acted like everything was normal. Linus tries to imitate him, but a traitorous blush arose on his face.

"Is this what I think it is?" Danny asked.

"What do you think it is?" rusty shot back quickly.

"You know what I think it is."

"Yeah, that's what it is." Rusty said quietly.

Linus was shocked. What had happened to not telling Danny? He could sense that something bad was going to happed.

"I'll speak with you after the meeting," Danny said coldly to Rusty. Rusty reached out an put his hand on Danny's shoulder.

"Danny, I _know_" he looked into Danny's eyes. "But I'm sorry, it wouldn't have worked out." He turned away from his best friend and started walking.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Danny asked.

Rusty turned around. "It was your secret," he shrugged.

"If I had told you, would it have made a difference?" Danny asked.

Rusty's eyes softened. "I'm sorry Danny," was all he said.

Danny nodded.

Linus followed Rusty down the hallway and into Danny and Tess's room.

"So that's what you didn't want to tell me?" the younger man asked.

Rusty nodded. "I didn't want you to feel like being with me would be hurting him."

"Geez, Rusty, not I feel like an ass," Linus blushed.

"Don't. Please." Rusty said, taking Linus's hand and squeezing it.

They entered the crowded room and sat down with the others, waiting for Danny to arrive. Tess was there, which Rusty was just now realizing was unusual. Man, this relationship thing was knocking him off his game.

A few minutes later, the door swung open and Danny entered, his expression calm and unperturbed. Linus looked away, shamefully, but Danny didn't notice him.

"Good morning, everyone, I hope that your stay in the hotel last night was comfortable, that you're all well rested and that you're ready to get to business," Danny said briskly. There were a few nods, and everyone's gazes were focused expectantly on Danny.

"Right then," he said, "I hope you won't be disappointed to learn that this isn't actually a job." Rusty raised an eyebrow at him inquisitively. The others looked around at each other as if to ask "did you know about this?"

Danny cleared his throat and then continued.

"The reason I called you here is to tell you that… Tess is pregnant. We're going to have a baby."

This was not the news anyone was expecting.

"Mazel Tov, Danny," Basher said, the first to recover from the shock. Then everyone joined in on the congratulations.

Rusty was still stunned. Somehow he couldn't picture Danny as a father. No, that wasn't right, Danny did seem rather fatherly, it was more that Rusty couldn't picture him with a little baby.

Li9nus leaned over and whispered in Rusty's ear; "I don't feel so bad now."

Rusty chuckled. Linus was right. Danny seemed really excited for the new arrival to the Ocean family. Now he would probably forget about his… thing for Rusty. Or at least not be as upset about it.

"Congratulations Danny," Rusty said, standing up an clapping Danny on the back.

"Thanks," Danny said. "You too."

-Fin-


End file.
